The Call
by mamaXunicorn
Summary: Everything is not as it seems.


_**A/N: I wrote this months ago when I first became a fan of the show...I've finally gained the courage to post it. **_

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><p>She watched in silent horror as Connor walked out of the smoke and flames with an unconscious Nick Cutter in his arms. She felt her heart seize as she got a good look at both Nick and Connor. The young genius was never too good at hiding his emotions from the world and the distress on his face was more than enough clue to her that Nick was not just unconscious.<p>

He came nearer and she and Becker ran over to help him lower Nick to the ground as she whimpered his name, "Nick."

"Get an ambulance, quickly." James Lester ordered as she leaned over him.

Connor stood up slowly and uttered dispairingly, "It's too late."

Abby kneeled down on the other side of him, placing a hand hesitantly on his shoulder and surveying the damage done to their leader and friend, tears already welling in her blue eyes. "What?" Her voice cracked in disbelief and anguish, her eyes looking up to Connor.

Nick was motionless and unresponsive and she turned helplessly to a teary-eyed Connor. "It can't be." Her breath hitched as the truth finally set in and she glanced back down at Cutter. "Oh God." She whispered. "There was something I was going to tell him."

She continued to stare down at Nick silently, too shocked and too upset to even dare to move. She heard Abby let out a few quiet sobs and eventually she leapt up into Connor's arms as Lester continued to demand for an ambulance.

She inched closer on her knees and placed a hand over Nick's soot and blood covered face and a shuddering breath escaped her lips. She closed her eyes tightly, trying to suppress her tears but it was no use and they started falling down her cheeks in rapid succession. She slid her hand up to curl in Cutter's sandy blonde hair and leaned her head forward to rest on his chest, a sob escaping her lips as she felt no movement from within.

Abby's sobs, Connor's soft spoken yet heart broken voice, Lester's shouts and the sirens in the far off distance blurred together in a collage of sound around her.

The pain in her heart kept growing and she grasped onto his shirt, the sounds around her quickly fading away into the distance until...

Claudia woke up with a sharp gasp, bolting forward in her bed. Her chest was heaving up and down as she took in the familiar surroundings of her bedroom. Her eyes took a moment to adjust to the darkness and she let out a final, long, heavy sigh as she ran her hand through her hair.

_A nightmare._ She concluded, proceeding to run her hand over her face.

Still, the image of Nick's motionless body remained imbedded into her brain. It had seemed so very real, her nightmare. All of it. The ARC, her alter-ego if you will, Helen and her maintenance man clones, the fire and...his death.

She scooted up on her bed and reached over to quickly turn on the light and then grabbed for her mobile. Her fingers found his speeddial immediately and the phone was pressed to her ear within seconds.

She held her breath as the ringing shrilled in her ear and her heart beat frantically in her chest.

She heard a brief click followed by a very familiar, very gruff and very sleepy, scottish accent, "'ello?"

She breathed a sigh of relief and a smile crossed her face. "Nick." She whispered into the phone.

"Who is this?" The sleepy Nick Cutter demanded. "And why are you disturbing me at this hour?"

"Sorry." Claudia breathed with a laugh and cleared her throat. "It's Claudia, Nick."

"Claudia?" He sounded a bit more awake at the sound of her name but still clearly irritated. "D'ya know what time it is?"

She quickly glanced over to the alarm clock on her night stand and hissed quietly. "Yeah, sorry."

He let out a sigh and she heard him rustle from the other side of the phone. "What d'ya want? Is something wrong?"

She bit her lip softly and shook her head. "N-no, No. I just..." She paused and sighed quietly, glancing down at her lap. "I had a nightmare."

"A nightmare?" He sounded less than thrilled at this point. "You called and woke me up because of a bloody nightmare?"

"I know." She said hurriedly with another laugh. "It's stupid, I know. It's just...you died, Nick."

He was silent on the other line and she sighed. "It was all so real. You...stepped into one of the anomalies and when you came back no one remembered who I was except for you and I didn't even exist anymore...at least not as Claudia Brown. I was some...PR woman called Jenny Lewis-"

"Jenny Lewis?" Cutter broke in.

"Yeah," She confirmed, "And...the home office didn't exist, we worked at some place called the ARC and Helen was there and she kept trying to kill you and Stephen he...he sacrificed himself and there was this horrible, horrible man called Oliver Leek. And Helen blew up the ARC and you _stupidly_ ran inside to save her and she...she killed you Nick."

"Helen killed me." Nick repeated and Claudia couldn't quite read the tone to his voice and then he scoffed. "You know, that really doesn't surprise me."

She scoffed out a laugh and leaned back against the headboard. "That's all you have to say about it?"

"Well," She practically heard him shrugging, "I suppose, considering the life we lead, that that alternate universe might somehow exist but it was just a nightmare."

"Yeah." She sighed, closing her eyes for a moment. "I know it was. I suppose I just..." She paused and shook her head, smiling slightly to herself, "...needed to hear your voice is all."

"How sentimental of you." He remarked and she opened her eyes and glared at the phone.

"Shut up, Cutter." She snapped.

He chuckled. "D'ya need me to come over there and tuck you in?" He teased.

"I'm gonna kill you."

"I thought the whole point of this conversation was to prove I was alive."

She scoffed and shook her head, picturing his smug smirk on that handsome old face of his and was grateful that they were just over the phone so he couldn't see her own smirk. "Shut up." She repeated and he laughed again.

"Really though." His voice became more serious then. "D'ya want me over there?"

"No." She answered hastitly and a bit harshly and then bit her lip and sighed, repeating more softly, "No. I'm fine, Nick, really."

"Alright then." He answered and she sunk down until she was lying down, snuggled against her pillow, the phone pressed firmly against her ear, a warm smile playing across her lips.

She let out a contended sigh and rolled over to stare at the wall, contemplating whether she should voice the thoughts in her head. She swallowed thickily and with a short nod to herself, decided to.

"Nick?" Her voice was quieter and perhaps even a bit shy.

"Yah?" Came his usually scruffy reply and her smile grew slightly.

She paused for a long moment and licked her suddenly dry lips. She took a deep breath and finished quietly, "I love you."

The air was still and a pregnant pause fell over them. Claudia held her breath silently, eagerly awaiting a response of any kind from Nick. She began cursing herself mentally after thirty seconds of pure silence.

It wasn't like her feelings for Nick Cutter weren't made known, especially to the Scot himself. They flirted constantly and even went out for drinks after almost every anomaly incident. But she had just jumped too far this time. She knew Nick was reluctant for love especially after losing Helen and an 'I love you' was just too much for him.

"Nick?" She prompted after a while, thinking that maybe he'd hung up on her.

"Mmm hmm?" Came his reply and her eyes shut in a wince. She had forgotton how much rejection hurt.

"I...I should go." She took the phone and her finger hovered over the 'end call' button when she heard his quiet call, "Claudia?"

She swallowed over the lump in her throat and slowly pressed the phone back to her ear. "Yes, Nick?"

She waited with baited breath for his response.

"I love you too."

She bit her lip, trying to conceal the grin that would certainly spread her lips and the girlish squeal that was climbing up her throat.

"Goodnight Nick." She wished sweetly.

"Goodnight Claudia." He answered, his smile obvious.

With just a bit of hesitance she ended the call and placed it gently back on the the nightstand.

She switched out the light and sunk back into her pillow, allowing the grin to fully cross her lips. She snuggled into the pillow, Nick's words a constant repeat in her head and she fell into a nightmare-less sleep.


End file.
